Disclaimer: Image above is NOT of the raccoon I’ve seen recently. It was taken during a Point Defiance Five Mile Drive several years ago. Obviously people had been feeding it, despite the signs saying not to. There were raccoons every fifty feet or so, hanging by the road, waiting. Like something out of a horror flick, unless you knew better.
I have seen a raccoon and an opossum in the goat field during the early morning hours. Adults. I’m glad they’re still around. I don’t know if they are ones I rehabbed. They are flighty, so it’s doubtful. The raccoon might be Solstice, but I think he would be bigger than the one I saw is by now. It has been two years since I rehabbed him…maybe three. Time goes by so fast, I’m not sure.
The ‘possum I “rehabbed” was a once-and-done thing. She came into the goat pasture with her back leg all torn up.I know she was a female because she had just one baby possum still clinging to her.Heaven only knows what happened to the others during the time whatever it was attacked her. She was eating some of the cat food, so I put a dish out back closer to where and and the little one took cover when they saw me, and I continued to put food into the dish for a good month.I was never able to get close enough to spray the open wound with that purple medicine that we always used on the ranch, but I sure tried. I hope she and the little one made it. If she didn’t, the wee one certainly didn’t. It was too young to manage on its own.
The ‘possum I saw yesterday is definitely an adult. Sadly, I had to take another dead opossom off the road during my daily walk a few days ago. It was hit by a car. I looked for babies, and a pouch, but didn’t see any indication that it was a female, or pregnant.
I all-too-frequently see dead raccoons on the highway, too, so whenever I see live ones, I’m always glad. They’re sharing habitat with humans because they have nowhere else to go without getting run over. I always wish them well when I see them. They make me smile…
In May, raccoons will start giving birth around here. So will the ‘possums. I’d love to see some babies. It would give me hope for their futures … and our own.
What we do to our fellow creatures, we do to ourselves.
